Rome puts brake on Bond’s Italian job

He has fought criminal masterminds, sharks and men with metal teeth, but as he shapes up for a car chase through the streets of Rome, James Bond has found a tougher foe: the city’s heritage bosses.

In a setback for the makers of Spectre, the next Bond instalment, officials in Rome have blocked filming at the famous Four Fountains intersection, where Daniel Craig was due to shoot part of a high-speed pursuit.

With filming due to start next month, the 16th-century fountains have been deemed too fragile to risk being hit by hurtling cars and the crossing is also uncomfortably close to Italy’s presidential palace. Federica Galloni, a culture ministry official, suggested that the director use special effects instead.